Category Archives: Goals & Productivity

Many years ago, when I retired from dallying and I started to be interested in work—and work productively—I soon realized something: I can’t trust my memory to tell me what I’m supposed to work on. Often, when I would sit down to work, I would go blank and wonder what I was supposed to work…

Many people jump to the conclusion that, if someone rushes to the store on December 24 to do her Christmas shopping or if she waits until the last minute to file her taxes or to write her term paper or to study for the exam or what have you, it’s because she is simply “lazy”.…

On the path to your goal, you face problems. Like an enemy trying to bushwhack you, some problems assault you by surprise. And because you didn’t anticipate them, you’re unprepared for them. That doesn’t mean they have to compromise your journey. Relying on your problem-solving skills, you can counterattack. Your ability to solve problems determines…

Have you ever been in a situation where you’re unable to resolve a problem on your own (and because of this, you waste a lot of time)? When I was in university, a math teacher assigned to the class one of those “impossible-to-resolve” mathematical problems. The teacher gave us one week to resolve the problem. I…

There’s a time to sow and there’s a time to reap. There’s a time to work and there’s a time to enjoy the fruits of your labor. There’s a time to sweat and there’s a time to savor results. There’s a time to pay the price and there’s time to win the prize. To reap,…

If you’ve ever played with a jigsaw puzzle, you know that it has a number of oddly shaped pieces that you must put together to form an image. Each piece has its place, and to complete the puzzle, you must find how all the pieces fit together. This usually requires an extensive trial and error…

You have great goals and want to do great things in the world. You aspire to: build a great business record music albums write captivating and inspiring stories play professional football build schools in third-world countries create entertaining and moving motion pictures etc. All these are great goals, but they are worthless—if you’re not going…

Procrastination happens in your mind before in manifest in your actions. You think then you act. You persuade yourself that there’s something more important to do now and that it’s fine to tackle “The Task” at another moment. Somehow, you trick yourself into believing that it’s in your best interest to tackle “The Task” later,…

When things don’t go right, many people default to casting blame on something other than themselves: on the elements of nature, on the government, on their teacher, on their boss, or on whatever else they can find to avoid taking responsibility. If the project they are leading fails, it’s because the technology failed. If they…

Vroom! Vroom! The truck was stuck, and no matter how hard the driver tried to get it unstuck, the truck wouldn’t move. I had just put my kids to bed and was on my way to my office to work when I saw, through my living room curtains, the reflection of an orange rotating towtruck-like light. I…